Kevin De Bruyne bagged a hat-trick of assists to take his Premier League tally for 14 for the season, and his masterclass against Leicester means he's well and truly Europe's assist king.
In the 5-1 rout over Claude Puel's side at the Etihad, the Belgian produced three different kinds of assists and they were all utterly sublime.
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SPORTbible Meets: Kevin De Bruyne...
First, he whipped in a trademark pin-point cross for Raheem Sterling to open the scoring two minutes into the game, then followed it up with a wonderfully crafted ball into the box for Sergio Aguero to regain the hosts' lead just after half-time.
And the same combination worked wonders for the third, as KDB slipped in Aguero with a deft pass inside the box - with the Argentine supplying the finish.
Aguero claimed the match-ball and grabbed the majority of the headlines after his fantastic four-goal haul, but De Bruyne, arguably the Premier League Player of the Season so far, certainly had the spotlight shone on him again.
Incredibly, following his set-ups on Saturday, the Genk youth product has now overtaken Lionel Messi when it comes to the number of assists in Europe's top five leagues since August 2012.
Collecting stats from when De Bruyne made his debut for Werder Bremen, on loan from Chelsea, he has a ridiculous 77 assists in 176 appearances.
In 190 outings, five-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi has 76 to his name, while the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Luis Suarez, Angel Di Maria, Dimitri Payet and Mesut Ozil are all in the top ten.
If you fast forward to September 2015 and look at data from the point De Bruyne made his City debut against West Ham, he is also the most creative player in Europe with 41 assists, six more than Messi, again his closest rival.
Is De Bruyne the best midfielder in the world footballer at the moment?
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Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Manchester City, Football News, Belgium, Football, Lionel Messi, Premier League, Kevin de Bruyne
